setting up a pdf catalogue with ajax

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This thread is resolved. Here is a description of the problem and solution.

Problem: I would like to use Views to display PDFs on my site. PDFs are organized into Category and SubCategory, and I would like to use a custom interface to filter my PDFs using link-style buttons.

Solution: Views isn't designed to display the contents of PDFs well. This will probably require a 3rd-party plugin solution.

Views is designed to allow users to filter results based on standard form input controls, like select dropdowns, checkboxes, radio buttons, and text inputs. Customizing those inputs to look like basic text links would require some custom CSS and HTML, which falls outside the scope of the support we can provide here in the forum.

What I could help with here is an alternative approach that uses standard form elements and downloadable PDF links.

This support ticket is created 7 years, 7 months ago. There's a good chance that you are reading advice that it now obsolete.

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Tagged: Types plugin, Views plugin

This topic contains 2 replies, has 2 voices.

Last updated by timC-7 7 years, 7 months ago.

Assisted by: Christian Cox.

Author

Posts

May 1, 2017 at 7:59 pm #519168

timC-7

I am trying to:
-create a custom post type called crop reports. Which is basically just a single pdf
-each crop report will be categorized by it's crop
-I want to display the categories within tabs of more general headings.
-when you click on a category within the tab, it loads the crop reports associate with the category via ajax within the tab

What I want to acheive:
-Here's the basic set up with the tabs and category but I don't know how to go about creating the category page within the tab
(hidden link)
-please let me know the best way to go about achieving this

Thank you

May 1, 2017 at 9:33 pm #519195

Christian Cox

Hi, I'll try to help. I have a couple of concerns here that I would like your feedback on:

1. Views filters are designed to work like search forms, where your users choose their filters using standard HTML form elements like a select box, radio buttons, checkboxes, and text inputs. The example you've mocked up uses customized inputs that behave like buttons but are styled to look like text links. This type of customization isn't something I would be able to help you with here in the forum, unfortunately. I could help you implement a more standard search form using form input elements, if you would like. Or, I could help you use Views to output all the content on the page on page load. We could use JavaScript and CSS to show and hide parts of the page depending on the tab and crop selected. This approach works best when you display links to PDFs instead of inline PDFs. More about that below.

2. Showing the contents of a PDF inline isn't something Views is able to do well on its own - in fact, it's a limitation of HTML and browsers in general. It's certainly possible to show a list of links to PDFs, which users can then open or download, but the actual display of an inline PDF would most likely require some type of 3rd-party plugin.

May 8, 2017 at 12:53 pm #521551

timC-7

Hey Christian,

Thank you for your feedback. Yes I think I am going to simplify this and use the standard post hierarchy to display singles containing links to crop reports. I appreciate your help and suggestions.

Thanks

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